


Fox's Hollow

by Doug48



Series: Zoo 1.2 [6]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Drama, F/M, Gen, No Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-09 21:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17413403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doug48/pseuds/Doug48
Summary: There is a great deal of Bunnyburrow work and many stories set there, but what about the foxes and wolves and whatnot? Wouldn't they have a "hometown"? This is my vision of that.





	1. Rabbit in a strange land

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended to be my sequel to Zoo 1.2, but the pacing and organization of these stories has become a little more complicated than I expected. Currently, I'm just keeping this one as a separate story and not an independent series

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Nick gives his friend a tour before her interview with the boss

“Was that who you wanted me to meet? Gideon Gray?” Judy asked.

The rabbit and the fox watched Gideon’s truck as it turned around. He had let them off at the dormitories as promised, and now they saw him stop, honk his horn, and then back into a nearby ware house.

“No, I didn’t know you knew him. I hoped to meet him, or his truck anyway, because I wanted a ride. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

“Lead on,” she replied.

So they walked, side-by-side as in the recent past. Judy looking around curiously, Nick mostly just watching her or nodding to the various mammals they passed. Most everyone seemed to be busy with one thing or another, but there were a few mammals just relaxing as well.

“I didn’t realize the place was so big.”

“Yeah. Grandfather acquired it way back when. Nobody wanted the land, so he got it cheap. Anyway, that’s what I heard,” Nick said, grinning, and showing more teeth then Judy expected.

“Nick, is it me or are most of the mammals here predators?”

“It’s not you, and yes, we’re mostly preds here. You saw how Gideon reacted to you? Like him, there may be some others that act in ways that you may not expect.”

Judy had seen the way some of the predators nodded, chin up, to Nick, and so she thought she knew what he was talking about. 

The fox elevated his muzzle and sniffed the air. “Yes, OK. Now, where? Oh, yes, there’s the cafeteria.” He gestured with a paw, led the way more briskly, and held the door. Judy went in and found it to be very much as she expected. Trays, utensils, steel and glass, and warm or cold food in pans in a line.

Nick got a small portion of fish and Judy looked at him and started to remind him that she had recently eaten, but then she shrugged and selected a small salad. The servers were all young predators, which was also unsurprising. Judy had seen exactly the same during her time at the Police Academy and at Bunnyburrow University. 

She did get a surprise when it came time to pay. There was no obvious credit card reader, only an odd looking device that ignored her attempts to pay. There was no attendant.

“Sorry. I forgot about that,” Nick said, taking a card out of his pocket and passing it over the device. It blinked green, and Nick motioned Judy to follow him.

They found a booth and sat. 

“That was unexpected,” Judy commented. “The way we paid. Or anyway, the way you paid.”

“That’s one of our unique little quirks. We have our own money here, and you don’t have an account. It’s like a meal plan at a college.”

Judy nodded, but didn’t fully agree. Bunnyburrow University stores and eateries took meal plan cards or Zootopian cash and credit. This place didn’t take Zootopian credit or cash.

There weren’t many other diners currently, and she noticed Nick checking his phone before eating.

“Mind if I?” He asked, motioning with the phone when he saw her looking at it.

“Go ahead,” she replied, as he typed in a quick text.

“That meeting I mentioned earlier? There’s been a minor delay, so it’s good that we stopped to get a bite.”

Judy took a forkful of salad, and swallowed before replying. “Nick. I know you steered us in here after you took my scent, and not because you were hungry or you thought I was. You’re giving me some time to acclimate. All of this is new to me, so it’s a little frightening, but I’m not really afraid. You’ll protect me from all the big bad predators, right?”

“Right.” He grinned again, and again she saw more teeth than expected. She had seen a few others doing that, so it was clearly a local custom. Apparently they only hid their teeth when in prey areas, which this clearly was not.

“So, who am I meeting?” Judy asked.

“Well, he’s sort of like the mayor? We also call him Grandfather, of course, because he’s the oldest and that’s a more or less traditional way of addressing a pack leader. We think of ourselves in those terms,” the fox replied. “Even those of us that aren’t wolves.”

Judy could see that Nick was entirely at ease, here. He’d even tucked in his shirt and stopped slouching around. His tie wasn’t knotted close to his neck, but it wasn’t as loose as it had been. He looked taller.

Then she noticed something else. Many of the predators here were dressed alike. That is, like each other, and like Nick. Ties were common with male canines, but also bandannas or bolos. They all seemed to have something around their necks. Some of their shirts, like Nick’s, had collars, but most didn’t. Female canines also had collars of a sort, but no ties. For them, it was either scarves in most cases, or some sort of jewelry.

The felines that she could see didn’t wear collars, but they also seemed to have various clothing accessories in common. Judy couldn’t quite put a finger on what those things were exactly.

Nick and Judy finished eating and then bussed the table. Not everyone here did that, but Judy had seen similar behavior in some Zootopian restaurants, and realized she was treating this place like a foreign country. 'Perhaps I should,' she thought. 

They left the cafeteria and Nick led the way toward another building. This one had columns out front, and Judy had no trouble thinking of it as the town hall. Nick called it the Lyceum, but she didn’t ask him if he was joking.

They went in and Nick chatted with the badger receptionist. “We’re a bit late, but I texted earlier.”

“I’ll tell them you’re here. He’s in with one of our contractors at the moment.”

“Thanks,” Nick said, and winked at her.

The fox and the rabbit waited, and talked about minor things. Judy noticed that Nick was fidgeting a bit now. He was tapping his fingers and he seemed to have trouble staying seated. He was not as self-assured as he had been only half an hour before, and he was clearly nervous.

“What’s the problem?” Judy asked.

“He’s my boss, you know? He wanted to meet you, and now, here we are,” Nick replied. He had sat back down, but he seemed to have trouble meeting her eyes.

“What have you told him about me?”

“Just, you know, the high points. First in your class. Bogo doesn’t seem to take you very seriously-“

“Nick! That's not true-”

Nick was spared responding when the door opened and a panther walked out. This one was wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He nodded to the receptionist, who nodded back, and the panther started moving toward the exit with only a slightly curious look at the rabbit, but then he paused when he looked at the fox. He said nothing. 

“You can go on in,” the receptionist said.


	2. Interview with a Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking to Nick's boss

Judy followed Nick, and she grinned when he very surreptitiously adjusted his clothes.

Inside the office, they saw an old, grey wolf seated behind a wolf sized desk with various sized chairs in front of it. The door closed behind them, the wolf looked up, smiled in the predator way, looked at Judy, and then covered his teeth again. He didn’t look sorry when he did this. It was more like he had simply forgotten Judy wasn’t a predator.

Judy wasn’t very surprised with so many predators and so few prey around. On the other hand, the wolf seemed genuinely happy to see the fox, at least.

“Nick! How are things in the city? Great?” The wolf rose from behind his desk, and walked around it, motioning Nick and Judy to comfortable, and correctly sized, chairs.

Judy could see Nick relax a bit, but also noticed how similar, and different, Nick acted now compared to his meeting with Bogo the previous day. That time, Nick had been, what? He’d been careful, that was a good word for it. Nick had been careful not to offend the big buffalo, and not necessarily due to fear. He was very careful to avoid mistakes, and treated that meeting much like a meeting with a dangerous lunatic or criminal. Very similar, in fact, to the way many prey mammals treated meetings with predators. 

This was different, and not just because Nick was already working for this mammal. This time, Judy was seeing Nick interact with a mammal he respected. That’s what it was. Respect, and maybe some fear that the old wolf would not approve of his rabbit friend. Nick’s manner was not submissive, exactly, but anyone watching would know which mammal was dominant. Judy suspected there were plenty of scent clues as well, and of course she could hear Nick’s higher than usual heart rate.

“It’s the city. What can I say?” Nick replied. 

The wolf grinned again, this time not keeping his fangs hidden entirely, and turned to Judy.

“And this must be the Judith, or Judy, Hopps. I’ve heard so much about you, and your clan, for that matter. Most of your brothers and sisters are farmers?”

Judy sensed no malice in the question. He was clearly just making conversation, and she wondered how much he really did know about her.

“Oh, yes, most of us,” Judy replied, deciding to treat this meeting like talking to some sort of local business leader who wished to express concerns about the ZPD, either good or bad.

“So, why be a cop?” The wolf asked.

“I didn’t want to get in the dirt and raise food. I thought, 'why not?'? Even though I had to be the first one.”

“Oh, indeed. A friend told me once that ‘the pioneers get the arrows’, but he was always a ‘glass is half empty’ sort of fellow,” the wolf said. “For a pioneer anyway.”

Judy wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.

“Where are my manners? Food, drink? Nick says you're partial to carrot juice?” Grandfather asked. 

“Ah, yes. What has Nick been telling you about me?” Judy asked. She wondered what sort of evasive answer that she would get.

“Nothing bad, I assure you. I found out he met you, and so I asked for his impressions. I like to keep my ears open regarding rising stars, after all.”

The blatant flattery surprise Judy, and not merely because she didn’t expect it from this mammal. She was also surprised by the apparently complete sincerity. She glanced at Nick, who only nodded. Judy blushed.

The wolf hit a button on his desk, and spoke into it. “One carrot juice, one coffee, and one,” he paused, looking at Nick, "Pepper? In a glass?”

Nick shook his head, but clearly not a negation. Judy had seen him drinking one this morning.

“With ice cubes in the soda, not the coffee,” and then the wolf looked at Judy, who shook her head. The wolf released the button.

“I do love having assistants! Never ever do anything for myself,” the wolf said, with the air of a lazy mammal, and grinned at Judy.

She could tell that was exaggeration. His paws were not delicate, and he did not appear to be entirely comfortable in his suit the way Nick was comfortable with his own attire. She could see by the pictures on the walls that he was a mammal who preferred to do things.

“Rising star?” Judy asked, looking for clarification.

“Oh, well, yeah,” this time it was Nick, but he went silent at a look from the wolf. The fox sank back slightly in his chair, embarrassed.

The wolf cleared his throat. “I like to think of myself as a kind of talent scout. You know how good teams are built, right? You pick experts in various areas, put them together, give them just the right amount of management, and then to get the hell out of the way.”

Then he looked at Nick again. “It’s what I did with Nick, right? And with others?”

“Right,” Nick said, as Judy thought about Gideon Gray. 

Judy remembered what Nick had said about someone who could teach him to fly. This must be that someone.

“I’m happy working at ZPD. Working for Chief Bogo,” she said, as the drinks arrived. The receptionist silently and efficiently passed them out, and Judy noted the wolf’s genuine, or apparently so, nod of thanks when she looked at him again. She then left without a word when he signaled with a paw. ‘His staff seems to like him,’ Judy thought.

“Now, yes, but later?” Grandfather asked.

“It’s what I always wanted.”

“Oh, of course, you always wanted to be a cop, yes,” and the wolf paused. “Nick? What is your impression of the ZPD?”

“Not bad. If it was me, not something I would like to do for more than a few years, however.”

“Oh? You would join the ZPD, even if it was only temporary?” Judy asked, surprised. She had discussed it with Nick previously, and he had been almost dismissive at the time. 

“Like I said before, they won’t take me,” Nick said in a kind of resigned way. Then he looked at the wolf, clearly looking for agreement. “I’ve got a job here and it’s not like I can just leave, right?”

Judy started to reply, but the wolf interrupted her. 

“You wouldn’t be ‘just leaving’,” the old wolf said. “You’d have to apply to the Academy, and then there would be a transition period. You have various responsibilities here, yes, but I’m sure I could find someone to take over for you. Temporarily, if that's what you want, even if that would be several years.”

Nick, apparently surprised, said nothing, and Grandfather laughed. 

“At least consider it, OK?” The wolf said. “I think some pioneer work would be good for you.”

Now the fox looked annoyed and the wolf chuckled.

“So, Judy, what do you think of my little predator utopia?” Grandfather asked. 

‘Your?’ Judy wondered, but aloud she said, “It’s not what I expected.”

“So, what DID you expect? I’m sure Nick warned you about our strange customs before he invited you?”

“He didn’t actually invite me. My boss sent me to make sure Nick got home OK, and to keep Nick out of… that is, out of some trouble in the City,” Judy said, not sure how much Bogo wanted outsiders to know about the Nighthowler situation. Then she continued, more or less to herself, "come to think of it, I've probably been here too long and should be getting back."

“Keep him out of trouble? I understand that! He’s always got his paw in something here!” Grandfather said, clearly enjoying himself. 

Then he turned to Nick, and asked, “Didn’t you only yesterday get into a fight with one of the night watch mammals?”

“That,” Nick said with an air of affronted dignity, “was a misunderstanding. Barker said Lionheart was dumber than rock, and I reminded him that rocks have feelings too. He took offense.”

The old wolf shook his head, and the rabbit wasn’t sure how to react. Everyone made fun of the Mayor, of course, but somehow this was different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I need a better name than "Fox's Hollow", but I always thought of this as "Foxhollow." Or anyway, ever since I decided to do a "Judy goes to see Nick's hometown" rather than doing the more standard "Nick goes to Judy's hometown." Originally, they were going to be mostly foxes, and Nick was going to the be the boss, but then I realized he's not old enough to run something like this. Mr. Big could do it, but not Nick, so I had to bring in someone else. Also, I watched "Terminator" again and thought of John Connor....


	3. Walk about

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the interview, the rabbit and the fox look for a ride back to Zootopia

“I’m sorry sir, your next appointment is here.” It was the secretary again, and she had opened the door just enough to put her head around and look at the old wolf.

“Oh, okay. Thanks Sheila,” Grandfather replied, and then looked back at the fox and the rabbit.

“We’ll have to cut this short. Nice meeting you Miss Hopps! And you, Nick, stay a moment?”

Judy went out into the waiting room where they had been before. There was another predator waiting, this one a tigress.

She looked at Judy curiously, and Judy said, “Hello. I’m Judy Hopps, and I’m here with, um, with Nick Wilde.”

“Oh, yes,” the predator replied, absently. “I heard Grandfather wanted to meet you?” The big cat was looking at the door to Grandfather’s office and, judging by the way her tail swished, she seemed to be having trouble holding herself back from barging into the office beyond. 

“Yes, we talked about-“ Judy began, but was interrupted. 

The door opened again and Nick came out. He started to close the door, saw the big feline, and then left the door open.

“Tigress,” Nick said. He didn’t nod, but instead made a kind of bow while keeping his eyes on her. The big cat responded in precisely the same way. 

The fox moved aside, and the tigress walked hurriedly into the office after nodding, chin down, to Judy. The secretary closed the door and the rabbit was unable to hear any of the discussion. 

“Friend of yours?” Judy asked, as she and Nick left the waiting room.

“Coworker, more like,” Nick replied, not looking at Judy.

“And what did Grandfather want to say to you that he didn’t want me to hear?”

“Pretty sure I can’t tell you. You just admitted that he didn’t want you to know,” the fox replied.

Judy answered by staring up at him and waiting as they walked along. Her hands were on her hips, and both ears were focused on him. Her scent was one of annoyance.

“Fine, fine,” he said, finally, waving his arms as if she was trying to slap at him, which she wasn’t.

“He wanted to know how the various, nefarious, schemes we have in Zootopia are going.”

“Did you tell him about the place in Zootopia we had lunch?”

“Oh? No, why would I? No, I told him about the shoot-out with Bellweathers goons.”

“Oh, right,” Judy replied. For some odd reason, she had not realized Nick’s boss would need to know about that sort of thing. ‘But why did they not want me to hear? I was there, after all,’ she thought. ‘I might have been able to tell them something useful, but then, they were pressed for time.’

They didn’t head back toward the highway, and the bus stop. Or not directly. Nick steered them into an area with more trucks and vans.

“Maybe I can get you a ride back into town,” Nick said. Judy noticed that his body language was more closed here than it had been only a few minutes before, and he had untucked the back of his shirt again.

“What’s that doing here?”

Nick and Judy both heard the voice at the same time, and stopped to face the speaker. It was a young, male wolf, and he’d been loading a truck, but now he stopped and glared first at Judy and then Nick. 

“You some kind of prey chaser?” The wolf asked.

“Not a chaser, no. More of a friend. I hope to be a coworker, eventually. And I don’t plan to ‘chase’ her,” the fox replied, using his paws to make air quotes.

There were many other mammals around, all predators, and Judy felt very isolated. Nick noticed this, and advanced a few steps ahead of her and to her left, making sure that she could still see the wolf.

“You have a problem with my choice of companion? You do know Grandfather’s policy, and the penalties for disobeying it, on predator prey relations here, don’t you?” Nick asked, and Judy noticed the way the spectators reacted. Nearly all of them turned to look at the wolf, as if wondering if he did know. 

“That old wolf doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” the young wolf said. His ears were back, but he didn't sound as confident as he had moments before. “He doesn’t know prey like I do. Like the rest of us do.”

“All prey aren’t the same,” Nick said, watching the wolf. He could smell the other predators and their senses of anticipation. 

Judy thought the situation might be calming down because they were talking and the wolf was not close enough to do harm, but then the wolf jumped down from the loading dock and advanced. His ears went further back, his tail went straight out, and the fur on his neck stood up. Both the fox and the wolf were growling, and their heart rates had gone up. The wolf's heart was beating much faster than that of the fox. 

The other predators moved to form a kind of circle for the combatants. Nobody was saying anything. This sort of confrontation did not appear, to Judy, to be unusual, not if everyone knew how to react like this. She found herself part of the circle, behind and slightly to the right of Nick. There was a panther on her immediate left and a coyote on her immediate right in the circle. 

“Don’t worry. Nicky knows what he’s doing,” the coyote said, softly, in Judy’s direction. 

“Weapons?” She heard Nick ask, calmly. He had his paws behind his back, and slightly under the tale of his shirt, and one foot was slightly back.

The wolf stopped advancing, grinned, and put his right paw into his jacket. Nick froze, briefly, as Judy saw the butt of the pistol the wolf was drawing from an inner pocket.

Nick moved in a fast circular motion, a full 360°, and the wolf suddenly had two knives in the chest. The weapons weren’t moving fast enough to punch in deep enough to kill, but they did prevent the wolf from drawing his pistol the rest of the way. Now it was the lupine that froze for several seconds, and the vulpine charged.

Nick went from a kind of crouch, after his spin, to a sprint across the short distance, to a tackle, in less than five seconds. Judy had seen the look on the wolf’s face change from triumph as he started to draw the pistol, to surprise when the knives struck, and then to pain just before the fox jumped on him, reaching for the handles of the knives. Both canines went down, and they landed with the smaller fox on the larger wolf’s chest and belly.

The two canines struggled on the ground, briefly, and no one in the crowd of bystanders seemed interested in stopping them. It was almost as if they had all decided to let Nick handle it, as if he had said something like ‘he’s mine!’ Just before tackling the wolf. 

Judy saw the struggling cease, and she wasn’t sure what to do. For a moment, Judy thought the wolf might be dead, but she could see that he was still breathing. She realized she could still hear his heart beat, but it was slower now. She could also see that Nick had some sort of grip on the wolf’s throat, but she could not see exactly what Nick was doing from this angle. She could hear that the fox was still growling, and the wolf was not.

“I yield! Yield!” The wolf said, breathlessly, trying to shout. One of the bystanders finally moved forward, and knelt by the wolf, as the fox got off him and then got up. The wolf stayed on the ground.

The fox took in a chest full of air, and then put his paws on his hips, and turned in place, looking at the watching predators. They returned his look and most of them put their muzzles up as his gaze met theirs. One of the bystanders, a young bobcat, was slow to put his muzzle up, and Nick took a step in the cat’s direction.

“You have a problem?” The fox asked.

“Why does Grandfather now like prey so much?” The cat asked, and several other mammals murmured agreement. “We know what happened to his family.” The cat was clearly trying not to sound afraid, but Judy could hear the way his voice nearly cracked and his heart beat sped up.

“And your family,” another of the bystanders murmured, but not loudly.

“We all know,” Nick agreed. “But not all prey are bad, and if he can forgive, then we should all also be willing to do the same,” the fox replied, and gestured at Judy.

“This is officer Judy Hopps. She was suspicious of me when we first met, but there are not many foxes where she grew up, and she had a bad experience with one of them many years ago. A bad experience similar to some of our experiences with some prey mammals. You know my past, and that of Grandfather, so you should be willing to accept when we say not to judge them all the same way.”

Several of the bystanders murmured agreement. Not all of them, but most of them, and not the wolf on the ground, but most of those watching. Nick had moved slightly away from the wolf as the fox had been speaking, but now he moved back closer. 

“Would you like to apologize to my associate, Judy Hopps? Or would you like to spend the night in jail?” The fox asked. He was no longer growling, and the crowd was beginning to disperse. 

The wolf, looking a little stunned and tired, stammered out a semi-coherent apology. 

“Don’t worry about it,” the rabbit replied. She really didn’t know what else to say, and she noticed that Nick's blades seemed to have vanished. 'Probably back under his shirt,' she thought. 

Nick waited until he was sure an ambulance was on the way to pick up the wolf before the fox rejoined his companion, and started leading her away. “Now, what were we talking about before we were interupted?” Nick asked.


	4. Back to the Wolf's Office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having gotten Judy a ride back into town, Nick has to go back to work.

Hours passed, and I again found myself outside Grandfather’s office. I could tell his secretary was busy on some project or other, so I started singing, badly off key, to annoy her.

“Oh Sheila! Let me love you til the morning comes!”

She ignored me, so I got up and started strutting around.

“Oh Sheila! Let me love you til the break of dawn!”

“As if,” she muttered. “Dammit.”

I could see her typing rapidly, trying to fix the mistake my distraction had caused, so I continued. “Oh Sheila! Let me-“

The intercom buzzed and I heard Grandfather’s dulcet tones. “Please tell him to try singing solo-“

“So low he can’t hear?” I asked.

“-somewhere else. Also, I’m done with my call, so he can come in.”

Sheila hit a button on her desk and the door unlocked. She didn’t get up to open it for me, so I knew I had won our little contest of wills.

I fluffed my tail, and looked coyly at her over my left shoulder.

She responded by putting both paws to her throat, lolling her tongue, and not looking at me. 

“Ha!” I said in her direction, and opened the door.

Grandfather was not behind his desk, but instead he sat in one of the wolf sized chairs by the bookcase. I walked over, and sat in a nearby, smaller, chair. I did not continue to strut because the old wolf doesn’t usually think leaders should ever, for any reason, abandon their dignity. Usually. He knows I do it and knows that some mammals think it makes me more relatable, but I think he figures I'll grow out of it in time. He's never done any such thing, of course, and doesn't much care if anyone other than the Wolf Hollow council 'relates' to him or not. 

“How have you been?” The wolf asked. He was grinning now, sensing my good mood. 

“Great! By the way, I’ve been thinking about my replacement on the Council. I think we should choose a smaller, female mammal, possibly a squirrel or rat?”

“Eh? OK, but I'd like to talk about that later,” the old wolf replied. “I understand you exiled a worker today?”

He’s talking about that fool in the warehouse district, and I’m not at all surprised he knows. Exile, 'death' in other words, is a choice of punishment reserved for only a select few, including myself, him, and Tigress. If the warehouse thug been a feline, I probably would not have killed him. Most of the felines belong to Tigress, just as most of the canines belong to me, and both Tigress and I belong to Grandfather. 

“Yes. Too stupid to live. He was trying to recruit followers, against a clear decision you made, while I was standing right there, with a guest! I mean, what the hell?” I asked, waving my arms in frustration. “We’ve exiled mammals for far less.”

“Yes, yes. I understand, but we need to be careful right now. What does the rabbit, Judy Hopps, think?”

“She thinks the wolf is sleeping it off in a hospital.”

“You told her that?” He asked.

“I implied it.”

“THAT could come back and bite you,” he said. "She's very idealistic. If she finds out before she gets to know, and possibly accept, the way things are done here, she won't like it."

“True. At least that dumb dumb won’t be trying to bite us.”

Grandfather looked at me oddly when I use the traditional lupine term for ‘barely smart enough to hunt,’ but then he shrugged. We all knew other mammals, even prey, used the term more or less interchangeably for ‘idiot’.

“So. Now, what are you doing? You going to apply to the police academy?” He asked, changing the subject.

“Not yet. I don’t want to look too eager. I have to look like I thought about it, or make it look like you spent some time talking me into it.”

"It is a good idea," he replied. "Many of our mammals are in the ZPD, and if our on-going negotiations go sideways, the ZPD will get dragged into it. If you're there with the troops, that's a good thing."

I only nodded. He was right, as usual. 

"Moving on... Have a look at the video," Grandfather said, and gestured at one of the monitors. It showed this office, and the tail of the panther that was leaving through the door behind me. Then we watched ourselves during the interview with Judy. "Comments?"

"She looked a little annoyed when you said this was 'your' domain out here," I said. 

He shrugged. "It is. Why would it bother her?"

"I think she sees you sort of like the way she sees Lionheart. He wouldn't say anything like that."

"Because it's not true for him. He was elected, and Zootop doesn't belong to him; it belongs to the mammals that live there. Wolf Hollow," Grandfather said, and then paused. "or the land it sits on, belongs to me."

"Yes, yes, it does," I agreed, and we grinned at each other.


End file.
